In the following essay, Goldfarb examines Howells's attitude toward racism in the United States as revealed by the themes and characters of his novella An Imperative Duty.

William Dean Howells' attitudes on race and other social problems are worth studying. Examining our writers, past and present, for social attitudes has been part of the intellectual scene for a long time, and the examination is even more intense today. In particular, our preoccupation with race and racial attitudes is central. It is a fact of contemporary American life. We ask questions which must be asked and search for solutions which must be found if we are to survive as a nation.

Always concerned with our growth as a nation, William Dean Howells made social justice part of his literary consciousness. Articles...